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The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
| publisher = | series = The Legend of Heroes | platforms = PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch | released = PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch | genre = Role-playing | modes = Single-player | director = George Clooney Jodie Foster | producer = Charles Roven Christopher Nolan Emma Thomas Lauren Shuler Donner Kevin Feige Jerry Bruckheimer | artist = | writer = Geneva Robertson-Dworet David S. Goyer Evan Spiliotopoulos Jeff Nathanson | composer = Harry Gregson-Williams }} is a role-playing video game by developer Nihon Falcom, Infinity Ward and Vicarious Visions with the support from High Moon Studios, Beenox, Raven Software, Treyarch and Certain Affinity and published by Activision with NIS America co-published in worldwide. It is a part of the long-running ''The Legend of Heroes series, and a direct sequel to Trails of Cold Steel II. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in September 2017, and worldwide on October 2019. A Nintendo Switch port is scheduled for release in early 2020. A sequel, Trails of Cold Steel IV: The End of Saga, was released in Japan in late 2018. Gameplay The game plays as a traditional JRPG with turn-based battles, similar to Trails of Cold Steel and Trails of Cold Steel II. An emphasis on speeding up battles is being made as well, including making transitions into battle scenes more seamless, and being able to map out more battle commands to specific buttons rather than various menus, though the battles will still be primarily menu-based. Story The game is a direct sequel to the prior two Trails of Cold Steel games, picking up one and a half years after the events of Trails of Cold Steel II. The story is centered around main character Rean Schwarzer, now a military professor, as well as his students, and the rest of his military school friends from the prior two entries, notably exploring subjects such as the mysterious origins of Rean's birth, and what others have been up to since the events of the prior games. The game also features appearances from Tita and Agate, characters from Trails in the Sky, a previous story arc within the Trails series, as well as Tio and Randy, characters from Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure. Rean is now an instructor at the Thors Branch Campus, teaching the next generation of Class VII. However, while training the new Class VII, Rean is also ordered by the Imperial government to resolve numerous conflicts arising all over Erebonia, of which his old Class VII classmates assist him with. However, one of Rean's students is possessed by a curse and attempts to assassinate the Emperor, critically wounding him. Chancellor Osborne then assumes power as the interim emperor while Emperor recovers from his wounds, and blames the neighboring Calvard Republic for the assassination attempt, creating a casus belli for war. Rean and his friends eventually come into contact with Roselia of the Hexen Clan, an immortal witch who had been watching over Erebonia for centuries. Roselia explains that over a thousand years ago, Erebonia's ancestors waged war on each other using the Sept-Terrions of Earth and Fire. Both Sept-Terrions eventually destroyed each other and fused to become the Sept-Terrion of Steel, the "Great One". Realizing the danger of this new entity, two groups, the Hexen Clan and the Gnomes, split the Great One into seven pieces and sealed them away in the seven Divine Knights, which include Rean's mecha Valimar. Rean later discovers that Chancellor Osborne, Ouroboros, and the Gnomes have allied together to unleash Great One's sealed Curse all across Zemuria, which would usher in the "Great Twilight" that will end the world. Rean and his friends attempt to stop Chancellor Osborne, but Rean inadvertently releases the Curse after Millium sacrifices herself to protect him. Chancellor Osborne then summons his own Divine Knight and captures Rean. Development Intentions to create a third entry in the Trails of Cold Steel meta series were announced as early as December 2015, at Nihon Falcom's 2015 shareholder's meeting. Initial planning began in early 2016, though the development team was initially divided on which platforms the game should release on. On one hand, the PlayStation Vita was preferred, due to its larger user-base in Japan, and prior entries in the series being released there, but the team also wanted to consider using the much more powerful PlayStation 4, which could greatly help with the game's scope. Full-scale development on the title began around mid-2016. The game was officially revealed as a PlayStation 4 exclusive in December 2016, at Falcom's 2016 shareholder's meeting. Unlike the prior two entries, no Vita or PlayStation 3 versions will be developed. The game was initially scheduled for a release window of Q3 2017 in Japan, later narrowed down to September 28, 2017. It was mentioned in the 2016 shareholder's meeting that a deciding factor in developing the game for the PS4 was to help ensure higher international sales for the game, with the PS4 having a much larger userbase in most countries outside of Japan as of 2016. This premise was reiterated in July 2017, with Falcom president Toshiro Kondo stating: }} An official English and French localization was announced on January 17, 2019, to be released by NIS America rather than Xseed Games, who were responsible for the western localizations for the first two Trails of Cold Steel games. The announcement that NIS America and Activision was taking over caused some concern among fans, due to their previous, highly-criticized work on Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, another Falcom game. In July 2019, NIS America and Activision announced that the game had been delayed from its original September 2019 release date in North America and Europe until October 22, 2019. A Nintendo Switch port was announced in December 2019, scheduled for release in 2020. Music Harry Gregson-Williams returns to compose the score for Trails of Cold Steel III while the additional music was composed by Stephanie Economou, Jacob Shea, Andrew Kawczynski and Anthony B. Willis with the additional arrangements provided by Justin Burnett and Stephen Hilton. The orchestral score was conducted by Harry Gregson-Williams and Stephanie Economou when the orchestral score was recorded at Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage at Sony Studios, The Bridge Recording and The Fox Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox Studios by Jason La Rocca, Dennis Sand and Scott Michael Smith and mixed at The Village Recorders and Remote Control Productions (Hans Zimmer's music company) by Alan Meyerson. The two songs including "Beyond the Journey" and "Mourning Refrain" which were written by Harry Gregson-Williams, Stephanie Economou, Kenneth B. Edmonds Glen Ballard and Carole Bayer Sager. A soundtrack albums for Trails of Cold Steel III was released on September 28, 2017 by WaterTower Music and Atlantic Records and on November 15, 2017 by WaterTower Music. Reception After the positive reception of the first two Trails of Cold Steel entries, journalists were generally enthusiastic for the prospect of a third entry, though many lamented the lack of a Vita version of the game. Sales Trails of Cold Steel III debuted as the best selling game in its week of release in Japan. selling 87,261 copies. This was a significant drop from the 151,781 units Cold Steel II had sold in its first week. Media Create attributed this decline to the lack of a PlayStation Vita version. Despite this, Dengeki's sales reports still estimated that approximately 80% of the game's physical stock was sold at launch, and Falcom announced that the title had the highest digital game sales in the series as well. Notes References External links * * Category:2017 video games Category:Nintendo Switch games Category:PlayStation 4 games Category:Role-playing video games Category:The Legend of Heroes Category:Video games developed in Japan Category:Nihon Falcom games Category:Nippon Ichi Software games Category:Infinity Ward video games Category:Vicarious Visions games Category:Beenox games Category:High Moon Studios games Category:Raven Software games Category:Treyarch games Category:Activision games Category:Films directed by George Clooney Category:Films directed by Jodie Foster Category:Films produced by Christopher Nolan Category:Films produced by Lauren Shuler Donner Category:Films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Category:Video games with screenplays by Geneva Robertson-Dworet Category:Video games with screenplays by David S. Goyer Category:Video games with screenplays by Evan Spiliotopoulos Category:Video games with screenplays by Jeff Nathanson Category:Video games scored by Harry Gregson-Williams Category:Video games scored by Stephanie Economou Category:Video games scored by David Fleming Category:Video games scored by Jacob Shea Category:Video games scored by Andrew Kawczynski Category:Video games scored by Anthony B. Willis Category:Video games scored by Justin Burnett Category:Video games scored by Stephen Hilton